After allowing brokers to adjust the annual subscription charge of Rs 1 lakh against the transaction fee,the National Stock Exchange took yet another step in response to the price strategy of MCX-SX. The NSE has introduced a new membership category Alpha for intermediaries who do not handle customer funds and is offering CM and F&O segment membership at almost 60 per cent discount to its earlier price.

As of now,NSE charges Rs 1.1 crore as combined membership fee from market intermediaries and has a networth requirement of Rs 1 crore but with the new structure,Alpha intermediaries will be required to pay only Rs 45 lakh for the combined membership and the networth requirement for them will be Rs 50 lakh. NSE is offering members to convert their membership to Alpha and the surplus deposit will be set-off against transaction and infrastructure charges over three years.